Automatic door-actuating hinge.



L. O. HIGLEY. AUTOMATIC 000B AC-TUATING HlNGE.

APPLICATION fILED FEB. I. 191's.

Q 1,300,267, Patented Apr. 15, 1919;

' 2 sHEETs -SHEET I. FL?- ,1

L. 0. HIGLEY. AUTOMATIC DOOR ACTUATING HINGE.

APPLIQATIQR FILED FEB- l. I918.

Patented Apr. 15,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEETZ- fly a; da

LYMALNAO. meLngoF'wILms'roiv, NORTH DAKOTA.

I AU'roMA rIo noon-li'crnmrfne itrincn.

' Specification of Letters iPatent.

Application filed February l, 191s. senarn'o. 214,s2g. f

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LYMAN O. ,HIGLE'Y, a citizen of the United States, residing. at zVilliston,- in the county of Williams and State of North Dakota, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvementsin Automatic D'oor-Actuati'ng Hinges; and .I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled the art to which it appertains' to makeand use the same. 7 My invention has for its object to provide an improved and highly efficient actuating device for swinging doors and gates, and'to such ends generally stated, the inventioir consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described *and defined in the claims. I J J The chief novelty of the invention is in an improved hinge structure whereby the door or gate maybe caused to automatically swing from a closed toan open position, or conversely, according to the se'ttingof a socalled fulcrum shifter of the hinge; This movement of the so-called fulcrum shift'er may be accomplished in various different ways, to wit, either by manually operated or by vehicle operated devices. i

The invention is. well adapted for use on garage doors, and/in such applicatiointhere would preferably be a vehicle actuated device outside of the garage and a manually operated device, such as a levenwithin the garage for controlling. the action of the hinge. For farm gates, for. example, vehicle operated devices would preferablyb'e'f'provided, one within and one' without the yard".

Inthe drawings, I have illustrated my 'inventio'n as applied to a garage door, and

for brevity of statement in the following specification and in the claims, will refer to the device as applied to a door, but it will, of course be understoodthat the 'term door as thus used, must beftaken- -infa broad sense to incl-udeia gate orsimilar swinging device foropening and clo's'ing'a passageway.

In the drawings, likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views".

Referring to the drawings; Figure 1 is a'front, elev rage illustrati g my invention as applied thereto; I t

Fig. 2 is a view partly in elevation and partly vertical section. and' with' some ing also a portion of the door;

as. a the ga- .maladies-15,1 19.

parts broken away, Showing the g'dmgierandl the door actuating mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a plan View of the parts shown in Fig. 2, sorn'e of the said parts beingindicated in diagram;

Fig. 4 is adetall View in smea s the vehicles actuated crank of the mechanism, Y

Fig '5 is a;verticalhsection'on the-line 5-50Fig.4;--

F g. (Susan enlarged View in front eleva tion of the-lower hinge structure and show- Fig. 7 "sa'horizont 1 section onetlie: line 7 '7 of Figs. 2 and.-'6','sofne parts being broken away; i 4 V V a Fig; '8 isfla view cor'refsponding to Fig. 7 but showing the door swung nearly to an op'enposition; and V Fig. ;9' i"sa vertical section on the line 9 9 o-f-Fig. 7.. j

'The garage is indicated by the numeral 10 and its swinging door by the numeral 11; 'In its'hingededge this door is connect ed to the door frame of the door opening by a hinge that will permit both swinging and a slight lateral oscillatory ITLOVBIllBIltOf the door.- As shown, this hinge comprises a bearing12' fixed onthe door frame, and a vertical hinge pin 13" onthe door, the said pin. being passed'loosely through a perforaa tion in said bearing andhaving a nut' or above said-bearing." This nut 14 should be ki'eyed, or otherwise secured'against rotation similardevice 1d secured to ;its upperend on the so that it will carry the gate I of the door? At its swinging edge" the door is shown provided with an ordinary latch 15 which, of course, constitutes nfo partof 1ny;1nvent1 on, H

The; lower hinge corner of the door is shown, as'provi'dedwith notch atf' 16, and 7 secured to the doorjust above this notch 'is pairlof'angle brackets 17, to theout-tfirned I wise rigidly. scuredasQ-calld hinge head that extends at a slight angle to-the, door and [projects "on tbthqfsides' thereof. At

points; equidistant ffonrthe apposie face's' v'v 'ithv dependin ifuicrum pins 19 for an ijn ofihe door, this hinge head 18 is provided Y which assumes-ones: the iiniporta-nt'ele stud 22 ments of the lower hinge. This fulcrum shifter 20, as shown, is of approxlmately triangular form, at two of its corners is formed with pin or fulcrum seats 21 and at its third corner is pivotally mounted on a projecting upward from a floor plate 23 that is suitably anchored to the floor or the sill of the axis of the stud 22 is preferably vertically alined pin 13.

As the door is hung on the upper hinge, its weight will, of course, force the lower with the axis of the upper hinge portion of the door toward the fulcrum from the seats 21 of the fulcrum shifter 20, and hence, will tend to cause the two fulcrum pins 19 always to engage with the said two fulcrum seats. Hence, it follows that when the fulcrum shifter 20 is in the position shown in Fig. 7, the door, in pressing its pins 19 into the seats 21, will tend to hold the door in such closed position. It also follows that when the fulcrum shifter 20 is moved into the position shown in Fig. 8, the outer side seat 21 will be moved from the outer side pin 19 and the pressure from the door is then resisted by the engagement of the inner side pin 19 with the inner side fulcrum seat 21, throws the line of force of the weight of the door outward of the engaged pin 19 and seat 21 and will cause the door to swing from its closed toward its open position until it has again eflected the engagement of both of the pins 19 with the cooperating seats 21. The door will then be in an open position. In Fig. 8, the door is indicated as moving toward its open position but not yet having reached its extreme open position.

When the fulcrum shifter '20 is moved position thereof shown in Fig. 8, back into the position thereof shown in Fig. 7, a reverse action from that just described will take place, to wit, the inside seat 21 will be removed from the inside pin 19 and the pressure from the door will then be resisted only by engagement of the outside pin "19 by the outside seat 21, and this will cause the door to be automatically swung from its openback to its closed position.

For imparting the above noted osclllatory movements to the fulcrum shifter 20, I preferably provide along'bar or rod 24 which maybe used toset the fulcrum shifter in a position to close the garage door after a machine hasbeen driven into the garage.

door opening. The

In Figs. 2 and 3, the numeral 28 indicates a post which affords a stop for limiting the opening swinging movement of the door, to a position approximately at ninety degrees to its closed position.

For operating the door by an automobile to or from the garage, I provide a crank 29 journaled in suitable bearings such as afforded by a rectangular box 30 set into the driveway in suitable position to be run over by the wheels of the machine. At one end, the crank 29 is provided with an upwardly projected arm 31 and a depending arm 32. A weight 33 is hung from the arm 32 and yieldingly holds the crank 29 projecting vertically upward. The crank arm 31 is provided with a wrist pin 31 that works in the slotted end 24 of the actuating rod 24.

If the garage is closed and a machine approaching the garage runs over the crank 29, the wrist pin 31 will be at the inner extremity of the slot 24 and the movement of the crank toward the garage under the pressure of the wheel will .move the actuating rod 24 in a direction toward the garage, thereby setting the fulcrum shifter into a position to cause the garage door to swing open. If on the other hand, the machine is moved in a direction away from the garage, while the garage door is open, the crank 29 will be pressed in a direction away from the garage door and actuating rod, being moved in the same direction, will set the fulcrum shifter crank in a position to cause the door to swing from its open to its closed position.

It is highly desirable that provision be made whereby it is impossible to shift the actuating rod 24 from the one extreme to theother extreme position until after the door has made the complete swinging movement from its open to its closed position, or from. its closed to its open position. This I accomplish by simple means which is preferably as follows:

The numeral 34 indicates a lock dog that is pivoted to the projecting arms of a bracket 35 rigidly secured on the floor plate 23. This dog 34 has a projecting lock lug 35 that is en gageable with the opposite ends of a lock bar 36 that is rigidly secured to and extends longitudinally of the actuating rod 24. The opposite ends of this bar 36 afford lock shoulders 37 and 38 for cooperation with the lock lug 35. These look shoulders 37 and 38 are so spaced that the said lock shoulder 37 will be positioned just inward of the lock lug 35 when the fulcrum shifter 20 is set in a position to cause the door to swing from a closed to its open position (see Fig. 8) and the said inner shoulder 38 will stand just outward of said lock lug 35 when said fulcrum shifter 20 is set in a position to cause the door to swing from its open toward its closed position the passage of face 39 will engage the said dog and raisethe same, so that this lug 35 will be above the lock shoulder 37. In all intermediate positions of the door, the dog 34 will be dropped into a position in which its lug 35 will engage with one or the other of the said lock shoulders 87 and 88. This, as is evident, positively prevents movements of the actuating rod 2% while the door is in an intermediate position. The actuating mechanism will therefore always'operate to perform its intended function, to; wit, to cause the door to swing from its closed to its open position, or from its open to its closed position.

What I claim is: 1

1. The combination with a swinging door, of an actuating hinge therefor, comprising a fulcrum shifter pivotallymounted at the lower hinge corner of the door, ahingehead on the door detachahly fulcruined against said fulcrum shifter at points on opposite sides of the door, means for oscillating said fulcrum shifter to cause the door to swing from closed to open positions, and conversely, a latch for securing said fulcrum "shifter in its extreme positions while the door is in intermediate positions, and latch trips carried by the door and operative-to release the latch in the extreme open and closed positions of the door.

d 2. The combination with a swinging door, of an actuating hinge therefor,-compr1s1ng a fulcrum shifter pivotally, mounted at the lower hinge corner of the door, a hinge head on the door ,detachably fulcrumed against said fulcrum shifter at points on opposite sides of the door, and means for oscillating said fulcrumshifter to cause the door to swing from closed to open positions, and conversely, the door, at its hinged lower corner being notched to clear said fulcrum shifter, the said notch being substantially closed by said fulcrum shifter when the door is closed. I V r p 8. The comblnation wlth a swinging door suspended from the upper corner of its hinged edge, of an actuating hinge at the 4 lower corner of the hinged edge of said door, said lower hinge comprising a pivoted fulcrunishifter provided VltllyflllClllHl pin seats on opposite sides of the door, a hinge head on the door having depending fulcrum pins detachably seated against the respective fulcrum seats of saidshifter, and both pressed into engagement when the door is closed, an actuating rod connected to said fulcrum shifter and provided with longitudinally spaced lock shoulders, and a lock dog engageable with one or the otherof said lock shoulders of said actuating rod when the door is in intermediate positions, the said hinge headon the door having tripping surfaces operative on said lock dog to release the same when the door is in'extrem'e open. or closed positions.

In testimony whereoi I, my signature in presence of two witnesses.

LYMA'N 0; meter; Witnesses BERNIOE G. BAUMANN, F. D. MERCHANT.

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